Thing 15 Library2.0

I read all the perspectives and have decided to write about "Away from Icebergs". The thing that caught my attention about this was his view that we should get rid of our "just in case" collection. I agree/disagree on this. There is a lot more current reliable information on the web that can be accessed, but schools haven't caught on yet. We get so many kids in that need "books" on certain subjects. They aren't supposed to get the information from the net. I think we need to educate teachers about reliable sources on the net. You can get information on so many more people on Biography Resources than we can hope to carry in the library. But the kids still need a book on that person. Information on geopolitical and other rapidly changing topics is much more up to date on the web than is possible in books.

Rick Anderson's next topic was having interfaces that were easy enough to use that we didn't have to teach patrons how to use them. This would be nice, but I don't think it will happen. There are always people out there that are so intimidated by technology and fear of blowing up the computer that they will need help with anything new. There are also people in a hurry that don't want to take the time to figure out new programs, just show them so they can get their information. For the people that like to figure things out for themselves and like to play around, easier computer interfaces would be a gift. Kind of like these 23 things, it would be nice to have someone sit down and show me how to use them, but most of my coworkers are learning it along with me.

As for his final topic, us bringing more services to our patrons, I think we're making progress. There are so many magazines, newspapers, databases, you name it out there. Many of these have a fee to use them. When your library subscribes to them in a way that you can access them from home then, I think, we're addressing that need.

In conclusion I think we're doing a pretty good job balancing the old and new. We have our books, newspapers, magazines, and we offer access to them and more online.